10 Great Things about the Pen Tarot
July 26, 2008 § 2 Comments
- It’s incredibly beautiful – every single card.
- It’s independently published.
- It’s made in the UK.
- It’s limited to only 100 copies.
- It features quotations on each card.
- It has a totally unique and refreshing take on the tarot archetypes without losing touch with them.
- It is meaningful and, therefore, readable.
- It’s a black and white deck with thoughtful splashes of colour.
- It only costs £30, including postage to anywhere in the world.
- It’s on its way to me!
Visit the site to see all the cards and order. Here’s one of my favourites:
Image copyright Penelope Cline.
Archer Tarot 
I loved the first couple of images I saw when first encountering this deck, a couple of months ago. Not to be a party pooper, but here are a few negatives:
1) It’s only the majors.
2) I’ll tolerate a word on a card because it’s SOP, but I really don’t like quotes. It boxes me in.
3) It’s only the majors. (Worth repeating, because it’s a strikingly beautiful deck with some great variants on the usual ho-hum-let’s-do-Waite-again kind of thing.)
On the other hand, I’m glad you’re excited about it, and that you’ve purchased it, because you have excellent taste, and because you’re supporting an artist who has much skill and insight. 🙂
Nice to see a deck which shows the nurturing/protecting aspects of the Empress/Emperor as near mirrors. Too few decks ignore this in the Emperor because, hey, it’s masculine, and therefore can’t feel tender emotions–or go further, and slap it down with a rolled newspaper as everything that’s eeevil in our culture, including missing socks and Dick Cheney. I’ve always felt that the majors, in a sense, are a test: they’re basic forces, and if a tarot creator makes some of them inherently bad, the flaw lies in their understanding, not in the cards, themselves.
Enough pontificating from me.
Hi Balakirev,
I like what you said about majors being a test. And I totally agree that missing socks are evil (although, being English, I can’t comment on Dick Cheney). And thank you for saying I have excellent taste. 🙂
But really…you’re not keen on the Pen Tarot?? 😉